2009 NISSAN MURANO S VIN JN8AZ18W09W139214

This Nissan Murano S is a 2009 model. The engine is a 3.5-litre petrol unit with six cylinders. There is an automatic gearbox, with four-wheel drive. Details for this car come from a single data source and may differ from its documents.

At the time of recording, the car had covered 151,363 miles. Miles and kilometres are easy to confuse, and a distance in miles looks lower than the same distance in kilometres. The number on the clock proves little by itself; earlier figures logged at services and inspections are what make it believable.

The main issue noted for this car is side damage. A damage type says what kind of damage the car had, not how serious it was or whether it has been repaired since. With side damage on file, the inspection should start with the door pillars, the sills and the side airbags.

At the time of recording, the car ran and drove. A key is on file for the car. Running condition describes a single moment, and standing or work done since can change it.

The record shows a salvage title. A title of this kind usually means the car was written off as a total loss after damage.

Registrations, changes of owner, inspection results and accident claims together make up what is called a car’s history. A car’s paperwork is scattered: the registry knows about owners, the workshop about repairs and the insurance company about claims. What a car has been through is seldom visible at first glance, and a respray can make even a badly damaged car look sound.

A cold start, the colour of the exhaust smoke and any oil leaks tell a mechanic a good deal about how an engine has been treated. On a petrol engine, a rough idle, misfires or a warning light on the dashboard need looking into. The automatic gearbox needs its fluid changed at the manufacturer’s intervals, and invoices should show that it was.

The ninth character of the VIN is a check digit calculated from the other sixteen, so a mistyped or invented number does not add up. The VIN of this Nissan Murano S is JN8AZ18W09W139214. The VIN usually appears at the base of the windscreen, on a door pillar and stamped into the body, and all of them should match the documents.

A VIN report shows what has been logged: earlier registrations, odometer figures, damage entries, branded titles and theft checks, wherever such data exists. The absence of an entry is not proof that nothing happened; it may only mean that nobody wrote it down. A professional inspection makes sense whatever the paperwork shows, because no report measures corrosion, worn bushes or a poor repair. Look up the history of VIN JN8AZ18W09W139214 first, and let what it shows guide the inspection.